According to an article from this site on how you should dispose of your own remains, "Cremation was a practice introduced by the Greeks as early as 1000 BC. It, therefore, has pagan roots. Likewise, cremation with the scattering of ashes has religious connotations and a Christian who subscribes to this practice inevitably endorses the spiritual belief(s) behind it."
Wonderful. Now let's strive to know about all the other practices started by these fell pagans that good Christian men may shun these hellish fires. A good start would be renaming our days and months after prophets and martyrs instead of those darned Norse and Roman gods.
Next, we should discard all relics of our clearly pagan Oriental names, traditions and foods (don't forget how dumplings and mooncakes are heinous offerings to the dead and demons!) which came into being without the express sanction of our true spiritual father Abraham and are unquestionably cursed and condemnable acts by virtue of their non-mention in holy scripture.
It is fitting to add as well that Eddy, being an ancient Anglo-Saxon moniker denoting a "guardian of the mists" (nothing Biblical at all!!) should rightly be forsaken as a worthy title for a saint's christening....
My God (and I am truly swearing to God here), people like this Eddy Cheong is one reason why I am ashamed to identify with "Christians" in Singapore. Read his other articles on "Why does cancer happen to good people?" Absolutely nauseating - I thought the thorn in Paul's flesh should be instructive enough without such unhelpful distortion of God's mercy.
And on the after-death rites bits, I do want to be cremated, if only to save my non-descendents the trouble of exhuming my body for the inevitable cremation when the burial plot is required for housing. Might as well make things easier for everyone.
Posted by: mrs budak | 28 December 2004 at 10:54 PM
hello there. totally irrelevant comment due to the lack of alternative outlet for this response: --> to answer your question, I am a toddycat, volunteer at the RMBR. still an undergraduate, not qualified enough to actually be from rmbr and im a geographer, thus not from DBS. cheers!
PS: VERY impressed that you tracked my blog post so soon. kudos!
Posted by: hou zi | 29 December 2004 at 12:13 PM
If I recall correctly Paul tackled these issues in Romans and Corinthians and the basic message was: "everything no done for the Glory of God is sinful."
When we scatter the ashes of a Christian Brother do we invoke the spirit of some pagan demon god? or do we praise God for the love of this person and commend him His loving care until the final day when he will rise?
The Devil is in the details. The more we pick at the details the more easily we become lost.
Posted by: Tyrone | 30 December 2004 at 01:52 AM
Well, it seems that those saved by faith in these parts of Terra are increasingly led to ape the creeds which are wont to declare that anything not outrightly permitted in their good book is pasul. I used to think perfection requires a live-long journey. Now as more and more believers seem to demand instant sainthood, I see the blind quest for personal perfection (and larger crusades such as Focus on the Family's gay conversion and abstinence only campaigns) as an evil that brings untold grief to those around and offers a 'god' as unjust and intolerant of human fallibalities as the Aztecs'. Living sacrifices, indeed.
Posted by: budak | 30 December 2004 at 08:52 AM